Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1884 — THE WORK OF CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

THE WORK OF CONGRESS.

What Is Being Done by the 1 National Legislature. A resolution -was offered in the Senate, * Hay 20, asking by what authority Commissioners had examined sections of the Northern Pacific Road constructed subsequent to the time specified by law. The Senate passed the mth cultural appropriation bill, with clauses setting aside $20,000 to sink artesian wells on the plains and $15,000 to encourage silk cultural Bills were also passed to bridge the Mis 4 souri River from Douglas County, Nebras-i ka, and for the construction of a public building. at Detroit at a cost of $900,000. The House debated the report of the Elections Committee in the contested election case of En-j glish vs. Peelle, of the Indianapolis district! Mr. Converse (Ohio) and Mr. Lowry, Chairman of the Elections Committee, spoke in favor of the adoption of the report. In the oourse of his remarks Lowry reflected seriously on Congressman J. 8. Wise (Readjuster), from Virginia, intimating that he was a lower animal than a mule. Mr. Rosecrans offered a resolution for an inquiry by the Judiciary Committee into the facts of the survey of public lands belonging t-o San Francisco. Mr. Hewitt made a statement that a published letter en the tariff bill to Henry W. Oliver, Jr., bearing his signature, was a fabrication by a Pittsburgh journalist. The House refused to concur in the Senate amendments to the DiDgley shipping bill. Messrs. Ellis, Holman, and Ryan were appointed a committee of the House to confer with a committee of the Senate on the Indian appropriation bill in the matter of the Senate amendments to the House bill.

Bills for the erection of public buildings at Portland, Oregon, to cost $250,000, at Sacramento, Cal., to cost SIOO,OOO, at Dayton, Ohio, to cost $150,000, were passed by the Senate, May 21. and also bills for public buildings at Washington, D. 0., and Opelousas, La. Bills w re passed to authorize the bridging of the Mississippi at Sibley, Missouri, and at some point between St Paul and Natchez; to bridge the Missouri at Rulo and White Cloud, Kan., and at the mouth of the Dacotah, and to bridge the Illinois between its mouth and Peoria. Mr. Wheeler was confirmed as Internal Revenue Collector for -North Carolina.There was an exciting time in the House over the English-Peelle contested seat from the Indianapolis district. The minority report declaring that Peelle (Rep.) was elected and entitled to retain the seat was adopted by a vote of 121 to 117. Mr. Springer, of Illinois, changed his vote, in the nick of time, in order to move a reconsideration, and pending a division on the motion an adjournment was carried by a majority of one. The Democrats who voted with the Republicans to retain Peelle in his seat were: Aiken, Beaoh, Boyle, Budd, Connolly, Dargan, Findlay, Greenleat, Hardeman, Herbert, Hewitt (Ala.), Hunt, Jones (Wis.), Lore, Mills, Morgan, Neese, Peel (Ark.), Potter, Stevens, Stunner (CaL), Throckmorton, Tillman, Turner (Ga), Woodward, Worthington, and Yaple.

The Labor Bureau bill was debated in tbe Senate May 22. It was supported by MessrsVan Wyck and Blair, and opposed by Mr. Ingalls, of Kansas. Tbe Senate sent to the foot of the calendar the bill prohibiting the mailing of newspapers containing lottery advertisements. Bills were passed to permit the bridging of the Mississippi at St. Paul; to provide for holding terms of court at El Paso, Texas, and to appropriate $25,000 to compensate tbe ofiicers and men of the Government steamer J. Don Cameron for damages incurred by her loss in the Missouri River seven years ago. The House of Representatives reconsidered its action giving the contested seat to Mr. Peelle, and voted to seat William English, who appeared and took the oath of office. Mr. Horr ma'ie the charge that the father of the newly admitted member had abused the privileges of the House by attempting to influence votes in the case. A special debate ensued, and a resolution was adopted that the eharge be investigated by a select committee of seven members. Bills were passed authorizing the construction of bridges across the Missouri at Rulo and Decatur, Neb. The Speaker presented a draft of a bill by the Secrotary of the Treasury to permit the exportation of spirits to adjacent foreign territory, with a drawback for internal revenue taxes paid thereon. A bill authorizing the construction of a railroad from Sioux City, lowa, westward via the Nebraska Valley to some point on the Union Pacific > west of the 100th meridian, and not west of Granger, Wyo., was reported to the House by the Committee on Pacific Railroads. The new road, it is said, would open up a territory as large as Illinois and Indiana together, would shorten the route to San Francisco 300 miles, and it is claimed that its cons' ruction would benefit Northern Illinois, lowa, Nebraska, 'Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Southern Dakota. The bill proposes to confer advantages on the new read similar to those conferred on the Union Pacific, with the Important exception that there shall be no land-grant. Mb. Aldrich’s substitute for the House labor bureau bill was passed by the Senate, May 23. It provides for the establishment of a labor bureau in the Department of the Interior, which shall be under charge of a Commissioner, te bold office four years, who Shall collect data relating to capital and labor, and make an annual report to the Secretary of the Interior. Senator Harrison reported favorably from the Committee on Territories the bill which provides that the Dakota Legislature shall consist of forty-four members of the Council and eightyeight members of the House, and that at the next general election there shall be elected .two members of the Council and four members of the House in each legislative district. In a debate on the bill to provide for protecting tbe interests of the United States in respect to incumbrances, Mr. Beck said that under the letter of the act the President conld pay off the Union Pacific Railroad mortgage. Mr. Slater stated that on the maturity of the Union and Central Pacific mortgages, in 1895, these roads would owe the Government SIBB,000,000. The pension appropriation bill was passed. In the House, Mr. Weller denied that he had been solicited by William H. English to absent himself on the occasion of the unseating of Mr. Peelle, and he expressed the hope that the investigating committee would inquire into the matter. Mr. Kellogg called for an inquiry into his alleged connection with the star-route frauds, and the matter was referred to the Judiciary Committee. A bill was passed appropriating $300,00* to nay certain quartermaster claims, one-half of which is due to citizens of Tennessee. In committee of the whole, a favorable recommendation was made on tbe bill to retire Henry J. Hnnt „ as a Major General. At the evening session forty-two pension bills were passed, including one giving SSO per month to tbe widow of Gen. Ord. ,

The bill restoring Alfred, Hopkins to tbe rank of captain in tbe navy gave rise to a long debate in the Honse on May 24. Hopkins is the officer who left Pensacola without have when the yellow fever prevailed there, and, was dismissed from the service. The bill was finally passed. Mr. Hatch, of Missouri, presented the conference report on the bill to establish a Bureau of Animal Industry—the Honse eon - ferrees recommend concurrence in all tbe Senate amendments. The amount of the appropriation is SIOO,OOO, and the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Agriculture is limited to snch investigation and snch disinfection and quarantine measures as may be necessary to prevent the spread of contagions and infections diseases from one State or Territory into another. The Commissioner is prohibited from applying any money toward paying for the animals It was found necessary to slaughter in order to prevent the spread of disease The report was agreed to. A bill was passed to iSermlt Lieut. Reynolds, of the navy, to accept a decoration from the Emperor of Austria for saving eleven lives. The Senate was not in session.

Don’t sell your S2O watch for sls, young man. Put it up at a charity fair raffle, 100 chances, $1 a chance, and give the poor twenty chances and the fair twenty, and you’ll make a decent profit on the watch yourself.—Burlington flawkeve. •> . “I beg a thousand pardons for coming so late.” “My dear sir,” replied the lady, graciously, “no pardons are need,ed. (You can never come toe late." In the man whose known tender caresses, there is a fiber of memory which can be touched to gentle issues.— Marian Evans. . firm without pliancy, and the pliant without firmness, resemble vessels without water and water without vessels.— Lavater. ■■ 1 ——,v May I always have a heart superior with economy suitable to my fortune. — Shenstone. 1 (. ■■■_ nm . ... . Charles Readers will gives a portrait of himself to the Harpers’ editorial rooiV'